NASCAR could have delivered the message: Life ain’t fair. Sorry Gordon. Sorry Drive To End Hunger. Sorry Rick Hendrick. Have a good time racing for wins over the last 10 races and think about winning the title next year.

Instead NASCAR looks good in the sense that it tried to right a wrong. It has a heart. That’s why there’s that clause EIRI – Except In Rare Instances — in the rulebook. NASCAR Chairman Brian France can do whatever he wants at any time for the good of the sport, so he swooped in and righted a wrong.

But it doesn’t make it the right decision.

In its quest to be fair, NASCAR risks looking like a sanctioning body just making things up as it goes along. It puts its credibility and integrity at risk when it has to make judgment calls on the fly in an effort to be fair.

What will it do in the future? Will it side with a four-time champion and one of the sport’s most powerful teams? That will be the perception the next time a competitor is put at an unfair disadvantage and NASCAR doesn’t address it or fix it.

NASCAR is risking its reputation by changing the rules of the Chase less than 48 hours before the Chase begins. It is an unprecedented move. Other sports leagues don’t change the number of postseason participants just because they feel a team or competitor missed the playoffs because another participant committed a questionable act.

And if NASCAR says it can’t prove that Clint Bowyer spun on purpose last week at Richmond and it can’t prove that there was a deal between Joey Logano and David Gilliland to help Logano make the Chase, why is it taking such drastic measures?

It’s not like there weren’t other times this season when people made intentional moves that impacted the Chase. Drivers wrecked other drivers. Teammates helped each other, especially at restrictor-plate races.

If Gordon wanted to avoid being involved in such a situation Saturday night, he easily could have — he could have just won a race during the year. He could have performed better in the previous 25 races. The Chase does not come down to one race.

The problem for NASCAR was that there was not enough time after Bowyer spun with only seven laps remaining for other drivers to control their own destiny. And then there were at least two others instances where it appears drivers gave up spots on the track to help other drivers. NASCAR levied heavy penalties against Michael Waltrip Racing for trying to manipulate the race.

But since NASCAR can’t go back and run the race again, France felt he had to do something. He called these circumstances unprecedented.

They are unprecedented but now NASCAR’s action has set a precedent.

It remains to be seen whether it’s a precedent for changing the rules whenever it wants or whether it truly is just trying to be run a benevolent dictatorship and steward of stock-car racing.